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Accolades

“This is good news for Massachusetts wine enthusiasts, who will now be able to purchase wines they currently don’t have access to,” said Robert Dwyer of Wellesley, who blogs about wine. “This is also good news for Massachusetts in general since it will mean new revenues.”

"Robert P. Dwyer of Wellesley, who blogs about wine at thewww.wellesleywinepress.com, calls the state’s liquor laws bizarre and favors a wider availability of wine. For consumers, it would be more convenient to be able to buy wine at a supermarket while shopping for food, he said."

“You have this strange exclusion of wine, which in Europe is considered a grocery item,” said Mr. Dwyer. “Here it’s considered the demon rum.”

"trying to predict the annual Wine of the Year is a popular parlor game among enophiles. This year, blogger Wellesley Wine Press held a contest, with New York wine retailer Grapes the Wine Co. awarding a prize of a Kindle Fire e-reader to the first commenter to correctly guess this year's top wine before it was announced. Unfiltered was impressed with the number of Top 10 wines prognosticated by Wellesley's readers. "Senelwine" guessed Château de St.-Cosme Gigondas 2009, our No. 10 wine, "Mike M" guessed Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional Douro 2008, our No. 7 wine, "James Z" guessed Baer Ursa Columbia Valley 2008, our No. 6 wine, and "RichardPF" nailed it, winning the Kindle, and the respect of his wine-loving peers. Looks like Wellesley's readers know their wine."

The Chicago Tribune's Bill Daley mentioned the site in Rosé: A wine for more seasons. I said "For me, they're like pumpkin spice coffee drinks: best enjoyed early in the season". Bill alsogave the site a shout-out for a piece the Capitol Case Clubcontributed about restaurant wine service. I thought it was a great example of how print wine writers can effectively engage wine bloggers.

The Boston Globe's website has been linking to my recent entries as part of their expanded local coverage includingWellesley. I truly appreciate that as it has driven a lot of local traffic to this site.

It was really nice of Thomas Matthews, Executive Editor of Wine Spectator to leave a comment and then check back and answer some questions I had. Awesome guy! Check it out here. And here.

Thanks to The Boston Globe for including The Wellesley Wine Press in their list of local blogs in the Food & Drink section. Check it out here.

The Wellesley Wine Press was just added tohttp://wine.alltop.com. Alltop is an interesting topical take on sorting through the best sites on the Internet- check it out and see which sites are listed for topics you're most interested in.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Locations and dates have been set for Wine Spectator's 2014 Grand Tour events.

These stand-up/walk around tastings provide an outstanding opportunity to taste benchmark wines and meet winemakers and winery owners. Wine Spectator editors attend, a light buffet is provided and you get a souvenir Riedel glass.

If you're looking to efficiently and enjoyably build up a frame of reference for some of the world's great wines, these Spectator events are the best I've found. If you're a wine enthusiast it's hard to imagine not feeling like a kid in a candy store. And if you just like the taste of wine there's a ton of really good stuff to enjoy.I'd like to meet up with some wine friends I've met through Twitter so I thought to take notes on the pros and cons of each venue for a meet-up from the east coast. Here are my thoughts:

New York: Tuesday April 29th 2014
Pros:

Close to Boston

Numerous east coast transportation options (car, Acela, or flight)

Great restaurants and wine bars/shops to check out

On my birthday!

Cons:

On a weeknight, and on a Tuesday (requires two days off work unless you're local)

Expensive city

Washington DC: Thursday May 1st 2014
Pros:

Will probably be the least crowded of the venues

Affordable airfares from the east coast (or use BA Avios for 9k round-trip post AA merger!)

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

So I'm working from home today and I get an email from VinoDivino offering a 90 point (Wine Spectator) Oregon Pinot Noir for $15.95. Coincidentally, the latest issue of the magazine arrived today with newly released ratings for Oregon Pinot Noir and sure enough - the 2012 Cooper Mountain Cooper Hill Willamette Valley Pinot Noir was rated 90 points with a release price of $18.

It's been a while since I've endeavored to find a $20 Oregon Pinot Noir to get excited about. But I was game for trying this one since Vinodivino made it so easy. They sleuthed out the rating, they ordered it, wrote up the email, offered it a good price, and offered same-day delivery for a flat fee of $1.95. They were smart enough to point out that the overnight lows with wind chill was going to be below zero so why not let them deliver?

Vinodivino now has locations in Newton, Brookline, and Needham. Their model has long hinged on triangulating professional ratings combined with their perspective to provide a focused assortment of wines with high scores and reasonable prices. They've recently upped their efforts to make it easier than ever to get their wines delivered at reasonable prices whether that be by same day delivery ($1.95 flat fee if you're in their coverage zone) or via FedEx ($9.95 a case).

The drive over to Needham takes like 15 minutes without traffic. On a cold winter night with snow remaining on the ground during peak traffic times it would probably be more like 45 minutes - and something I wouldn't make a priority. But with an offer like this where I could turn a review on a potentially high QPR wine like this the same day I couldn't resist. They removed all of my potential objections.

Nice job guys. Well done.

I placed the order around 2:00 pm. They promise same-day delivery between 6-9 pm. My two bottles arrived at 6:20 pm. Terrific! It could not be easier.

Vibrant magenta in color, but mostly transparent. Simple strawberry notes with a hint of fake grape overtones. Mild mannered and a bit flat on the mid-palate with a short finish. Enjoyable but priced in line with its quality.

85/100 WWP: Very Good

Conclusion:

The same-day delivery option from Vinodivino in conjunction with their eye for highly rated yet affordable wines makes theirs an email list Boston-area wine enthusiasts should check out. When I think of how many months some wine deals drag out it's refreshing to hear about a wine, taste it, and publish a blog post about it within 6 hours.

I think Wine Spectator's 90 point rating on this wine is inflated. Harvey Steiman covers Oregon for the magazine and he's turned me on to a number of terrific values. The 95 rating he bestowed on the 2010 Domaine Serene Evenstad was a great call. But I think he got carried away with this one. No biggie - for $17/btl fully loaded it's still a solid play.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

In Pursuit of Balance is a movement championed by Rajat Parr, Jasmine Hirsch, and others seeking to build momentum behind the idea that the best California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay can deliver balance between fruit, acidity, structure and alcohol.

It started in 2011 featuring a tasting of like-minded wineries in San Francisco. This year, a tasting is being held in New York Cityon February 4th, 2014.

The 32+ member wineries listed below give you a good idea of the type of producers we're talking about. The tasting sounds like a great way to quickly build up familiarity with producers of this appealing style.

Here are my thoughts on each of the member wineries:

Anthill Farms Winery

A promising producer but I haven't quite found a groove with them yet. Some bottles have been great, others not so great. You seem to get what you pay for with them.

Au Bon Climat Winery

Their $20 bottling is a solid 88 point offering. Haven't explored much being that.

Bluxome Street Winery

No familiarity.

Calera Wine Company
I'm actually surprised they're in this group. I thought their 2009 Central Coast bottling was a fruit bomb.

Ceritas

No personal experience but tons of positive chatter. Would love to try.

Tasted at Cochon 555 but haven't shelled out the $ for at retail yet. Well regarded.

Red Car

Lots of experience here. Their '07 Heaven & Earth bottling was one of the best Pinot Noirs I've ever tasted but it's riper than most of their offerings. Visited with Paul Sequeria when he was with them. And recently visited their tasting room (fun, no appointment needed).

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Local Kitchen & Drinks -- an upscale casual family-friendly pub with existing locations in Newton and Wayland -- opened recently in Wellesley to much fan fare.

It replaced China Sky which was an incredibly clean and overall outstanding but often empty Chinese restaurant. The addition of a restaurant like The Local is a welcome addition. Wellesley has lacked a sit-down restaurant where you can get an $11 burger.

They just recently started opening for lunch, and I'd heard unfavorable reports of an uncomfortably crowded parking lot and service glitches on weekend nights so I thought visiting during less crowded lunch hours would be a good play.

And it mostly was.

Build Out

Cozy and comfortable with clean modern lines

I really liked the way they've transformed the space both aesthetically and in its thoroughness. China Sky was, I thought, a very nice restaurant and although it was a different vibe I'm sure it was tempting to re-use a lot of the hardware. Take for example the Baldwin door hardware China Sky had. It's gone and replaced with something more matched to the look and feel they're going for...

Bar area is expanded since the China Sky days

...which strikes a very nice balance between cozy and comfortable with clean modern lines. Brown and blue hues along with unique lighting that strikes the perfect balance between modern and vintage.

Nice selection of beers on tap

Though we didn't sit at the bar area it seemed welcoming. I believe they still need to adhere to 'ye olde Wellesley tradition of requiring food to be ordered to get a drink at the bar.

Drinks

The pub atmosphere definitely lends itself more to beer than wine and they had a nice, focused list of beers on tap for $7.

Lots of local beer options

I went for a Bar Harbor "Cadillac Mountain" Stout from Bar Harbor Brewing Company. I'd never had it before but thought it was Very Good+ (Beer Advocate link) with a very nice touch of toasted chocolate wrapped around a classic Irish stout frame.

The wine list, entirely by the glass with no bottle offerings as far as I could tell, was far less local. In fact it wasn't even domestic. Most of the selections were, strangely, from Europe.

Wine selection isn't very local
It's not even very domestic

I'd love to see some local wines like Travessia (here's why), Westport Rivers, and Turtle Creek. But even if they don't want to go that far I think their wine program would be more successful with recognizable domestic brands. But whatever - it definitely feels more like a place to get a beer anyway so it's not that big a deal.

Food

The menu showed a good amount of diversity yet didn't offer so many offerings as to be overwhelming or unfocused. The Coffee Braised Short Ribs sounded good, as did the Spicy Hong Kong Noodles, but especially because of the John Dewar association I went for the burger.

Good entree diveristy

I love the price point of their Prime Burger: $11. Wellesley has, strangely, lacked a sit-down $11 burger in a setting like this. The Cottage's burger goes for $13.95 but the atmosphere there points you in other directions (and the food on average isn't very good in my experience).

I had it tricked it out with Swiss and Roasted Mushrooms. I'm torn on whether it was a really good burger. It looked pretty good, and I appreciated the toppings providing isolation between the burger and the bottom bun so the bun didn't get soggy.

Although the burger was very juicy in terms of how it dribbled onto the plate when I picked it up, it seemed a little dry. I ordered it "medium" and it was pink in the center so I don't think it was overcooked. In hindsight perhaps it was a lack of seasoning that made it seem just a bit lackluster. The fries were well seasoned and very good.

Prime Burger with Swiss and Roasted Mushrooms

They have a "Junior's Menu" which was appreciated with our little dudes (now 6 and 8) joining us. They both went for pasta dishes which were very simply prepared but enjoyed. $8 seemed a little steep especially since it didn't include drinks or a dessert.

Kids menu didn't include drinks -
but does now!

I mentioned this on Twitter as a low-light and they responded back with a thoughtful policy change:

@RobertDwyer good news - we've decided to no longer charge for kids fountain drinks. TY for your feedback!
— The Local (@LiveEatLocal) January 5, 2014

Wow! You've got to appreciate that they're listening and still tweaking the formula.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The Local is a welcome addition to the Wellesley dining scene. The town really needed a restaurant like this and I can think of a lot of situations where we'll find it hits the spot. Perhaps like The Cottage, the food could use a little more flavor to be more memorable.

Lunch set us back $60+ with tip (2 adult entrees, 2 kids meals, 2 kids drinks, 1 beer) which seems a tad pricey. We'll definitely be back though. I think it's going to be a very successful restaurant.